The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-01-22

U
he had gone up to the castle in the
middle of the day to mend broken
part OF the swiss clock case.
When Fritz Hartmann reached the
notary's house he forgot that there
was any such thing as carving in the
world, unlsss it be carving out for
tune. Yet there was some carving to
be done, and he might be rich. The
old notary and Hartmann walked in
the garden by the colored spires OF hol.
hollyhock flowers. They smoked and
talked of the time OF Hartmann's ia.
ther, and how the old notary knew
him well, and how there had been
quarrel.
mo one in the village knows?" ask.
ed the old lawyer keenly.
mo one-I am good gaoler to
keep secrets fast"
"But it is time" said the notary.
"Your case is safe. The old baron
was almost dead. was called in to
make the will by the man to whom
the property was willed. His defence
would not have leg to stand on"
1t was very strange thing that
while those two men were talking by
the hollyhocks, considering the future
lawsuit which was to make the
Schwartzberg Castle change owners, at
the castle itself the evil omen came
again. In the old tapistried draw.
ins room young Schmidt was
telling his tale, leaning over the
back OF his little wife's chair, after
q days shooting. On the wall
opposite to the windows there was
only the softly-shaded tapestry; but
at one end Of the room there was the
portrait of Bertha, in white and
pearls, rs BRIDE it had been hung
there instead OF the broken mirror.
All at once the portrait dragged the
long nails from the wall, and fell face
downward on the polished floor.
Even Ludwig Schmidt, man as he
was, turned pale and stood unable to
stir in the dead silence after the crash.
Then, seeing his young wife's head
sink forward he turned to her in
panic. Was she already dead? No,
it was only faint. The faint passed
off and the servants were gathering
round her where she lay in the cool
air on the terrace. Her eyes sought
her husbands face, and the only
words she spoke were, 81 am to die!"
Now, to a dead certainty-and
very dead certainty lndeed-Bertha
would die il she sank as she was sink
ing during the month or two that fol-
lowed the falling OF the great picture.
All the neighborhood had the tale; the
Golden Dragon" had sent it round; the
bride at the castle was wasting away
and dying. The doctors found no dis
ease but she was fading as flower fades
whose life is done.
The Schwartzberg case began to fill
the papers OF Geneva. Two brothers
had quarreled long ago and theyoung-
err OF the two had incurred his fathers
anger, and gone away an exile from
his home and country. Heran through
his portion in wild life, and never
came back like the prodigal But his
son came back, as q stranger and n
peasant, to live gloomy and discon.
tented under the shadow of the |
castle where his father had lived
as a boy His fathers brother was
there, grown old now, and the heir
was the grandson-a boy with an eld-
err sister Just in the flower OF girlhood. |
The young heir had been killed by a
fall on the the rocks. the old baron |
had died and man with no name but |
Schmidt was in the place of the bar.
ons OF Schwartzberg. The great case
dragged on as q nine days wonder. !
There were two wills; one produced
from the safe OF an old notary OF
Schwaruzberg; it was written after the
boys untimely death and gave the
to the next heir of the
Schwartzberg barons, the maledescend-
ant OF the absent brother; the other
will was written on The night ol Che
baron's death. 1t was disputed be.
cause it had been drawn up when the
testator was week in mind, on the
brink of death and it had been done
at the instigation OF Schmidt himself.
Well, all the village had been amazed
to discover who Fritz Hartmann was;
there was no doubt how the case would
70.
"But the poor lady-it is sad for
her," said one OF the idlers outside
the inn.
'She is dying anyhow, so it does
not matter" answered another. at
does not make any difference to the
dead whether they owned castle or
a howell"
"But is she dying2" with shudder.
"Yes," in n whisper; "the portr ait
fell-it was the omen. She sickened
at once. 1t will be a great funeral.
My lord will go back to his law books;
his time at the castle was q short life
and a merry one."